Clouds
by cam94509
Summary: Once upon a time, they'd all been great. Now, it wasn't as true. But who could be content with less then what they once were? Not T.K, at the very least. Takari.
1. Prologue

Clouds:

Prologue:

A/N: I was rereading this chapter, and I realized it was full of numerous grammatical errors and missing words, and was actually fairly choppy, so I made some edits and added a little more material to make it make more sense.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

I guess it all really began at around 11 am on the first day of summer break, after my 10th grade year. I was being lazy, as I'd been so much, just looking up at the clouds. It reminded me of something that puzzled me, and I'd thought about it a lot recently.

You know, when you're little, you spend a lot of time looking up at the clouds. But as you grow, you don't just cease to look up at the clouds, you cease to remember that it exists, on clear days. Clouds, once fantastic figures, once almost dreams, become nothing.

I wasn't quite sure. I mean, as we grow up, we still chase these clouds; in the same way we chase our fleeting dreams. It's just that we can't remember what we are chasing, and we never see it. I mean, what's the point of having dreams, and chasing them, if you don't even know what they are?

But on this particular day, the clouds were indistinguishable from one another, because they blocked out the sun. If clouds were dreams, then this was an accurate metaphor for my life; so full of dreams that I couldn't pinpoint any of them, and so chaotic that the dreams were no longer light, but dark, suppressed by their own ambition, and inner turmoil.

Indeed, it'd been a long time since I'd had a bright future. My GPA had fallen, my social life had eroded, and my stress had increased. I'd gone from being brilliant, cute, popular, and carefree, to being of average intelligence, of average looks, a nobody, not good or bad, and edgy as all hell.

It'd all started going down-hill when the digidestined had passed on the torch, and it'd gotten worse since we'd all seperated... Much, much 'd all lost self-esteem, drive, and something mystical, almost as if we had some sort of superpowers while we were the digidestined, and they were gone now that we were back to being just normal kids again.

_So, if we're normal kids, maybe it's time to step things up a notch for basketball, and see if I can't just break free. After all, I really do just need to convince myself it's possible again, right?_ I thought, looking away from the sky as I brushed my poorly kept hair out of my eyes.

I began the short walk to the school with my basketball, deciding to practice for the first time in a very, very long time. 10 minutes later, I was at the high school I now attended. I tried to take a shot, but I missed the basket entirely. As I ran over, and retrieved the ball, somebody laughed, and I whirled around to see who it was. He spoke before I could turn entirely, and I groaned a little inside, just hearing his voice.

"Hey, T.K! Long time, no see! I see you still suck at basketball." It was Davis, who, no matter how much I had come to respect him, was still annoying as hell.

"No, just out of practice." To be honest, I was mortified that Davis had seen me miss that particular shot; I would never live it down. I mean, it could have been worse; Kari could have seen me miss the shot instead… I didn't really know why I felt that way, as I knew she really wouldn't care, but my feelings for Kari confused me. I was so afraid of losing her friendship that I wasn't willing to be anything more than just a friend, because romance was more likely to fall apart than friendship, and then things would be more awkward, but at the same time, I wanted that very romance that I was afraid of; I liked her a lot, and really, considering how much we had in common and how well we got along, such a relationship would be too good to miss.

_Too good to miss| But too good to risk _I thought, and then laughed aloud at the slant rhyme; it was just a little bit ridiculous.

"What's funny?" Davis asked, bringing me back into the real world.

"Nothing." I said.

"Alright, whatever, man, I see you're also still a little weird."

"Yeah, coming from the guy whose life dream is to open a noodle cart, I practically take that as a compliment." I pointed out, laughing slightly

"At least I don't miss a basket by twenty feet from the top of the key."

"Whatever man, you would too if you had taken a shot in 6 months."

"Hey, it's not MY fault you're lazy."

"I'm not lazy; I just have had other things to do."

"Yeah, like sitting around and playing games… and sitting around, and sitting around… That's not lazy at ALL!"

"Hey, I don't JUST sit around in my room and play games."

"Really? Like what?" Davis asked, almost dubiously.

"Well, I do my homework." I replied weekly, realizing that I really wasn't doing anything other than sitting around.

"Right… Doing the bare minimum isn't lazy at all."

"And you've been doing what all this time, Mr. Work Ethic?"

"Absolutely nothing. But at least _I_ don't pretend otherwise."

"True." I conceded, "Very true. You're proud of your lone accomplishment over the last couple of years; watching your life slip away."

"And what have you done?" He asked, sounding as if that one had been too accurate for him; so accurate that it had vaguely hurt, even coming from me.

"Watched my life slip away, fell from hero to zero… But at least I don't enjoy it. Come on, man, you have to admit, it's a little weird that we've all fallen apart at the same time."

"Maybe we just don't really have any reason to try anymore. I mean, we don't have a world to save. We aren't constantly in contact with people who expect the world of us, and really, what's left to achieve when you've saved two worlds twice?" Davis speculated.

"True. True." I admitted, wondering why I hadn't thought of that, and then taking another shot.

I missed, but not by half as much.

"Getting closer." Davis said, "But 'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but since that was only closer and not close, and since that was neither a horseshoe nor a hand-grenade, so you still fail."

I smiled to myself, commenting, "That was too wordy to be funny, Davis. Cut it down a little."

Davis laughed, "Whatever, dude, I've got to get home for lunch."

"Fine. I'm going to go back to practicing." I said, and chased after my basketball.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

After a moment, I lost track of the ball. I was also already winded.

"Shit." I muttered, irritated at my slowness, my clumsiness, and my overall lack of stamina.

I started to turn away from the hill down which the ball had clearly rolled, deciding I'd just get a new one, as that one had been in awful condition.

Before I could start walking away, though, I heard a familiar voice, albeit one I could not quite place, behind me.

"Is this you-" The girl began, but stopped as soon as she could see my face, almost dropping the ball in surprise, "Oh. T.K, is that you?

The girl must have been Kari; same crimson hair and same nutmeg eyes. Plus, her voice helped me place her, as did her immediately recognizing me.

"Kari… You look so... Different."

"You mean I look like a shadow of myself." She said, lowering her head, which caused her hair to fall over her eyes.

I would have protested, but she'd said it, and it wouldn't make much sense to argue with her. Plus, it was true. Her face was gaunt, her hair was messy, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

I was surprised, although perhaps I shouldn't have been, to feel the urge to hug her, and I mean more than normal. She clearly needed someone to tell her that they really did care, and she clearly needed to feel like she was amazing. After all, she was, whether she realized it or not.

But, I wasn't sure what she'd think if I hugged her, so I kept my hands to myself, and instead, I said, "And I'm not?" hoping to cheer her up.

"Not at all. In fact, I'd say you are twice the man you were when I saw you last." She said, laughing.

"I've only gained twenty pounds, I'm hardly twice the man I was before. Especially because I've grown significantly!" I replied, pretending to be insulted. In reality, I was glad she was cheered up.

"You know I'm just teasing, right?"

"I know… Do you think I'm not?" It was my turn to laugh.

"Whatever. What have you been doing for the last school year?"

"Nothing really." I replied, blushing, because I felt so lazy saying that.

"Then why didn't you ever call me?" Kari asked angrily. She'd clearly missed me, and while I felt like an ass for making her feel ignored, I was glad she cared.

"I don't know." I admitted, looking away quickly to avoid her searing gaze, "What have you been doing?"

"Actually," She blushed, pausing, as if trying to come up with a story, and then sighed, and said, "Not much more than you."

"So why didn't _you_ call _me_?" I said, smiling slightly.

"Good point." The girl conceded.

"Thank you." I said, rolling my eyes, "Look, I've got to eat lunch. Talk to you later?"

Kari frowned, apparently she wasn't about to let me go so soon, that was reasonable, after all, we hadn't seen one another in half of forever, then she said, "Actually, why don't I buy you lunch, that way we can catch up on what's happened."

"Only if you'll feed me better than you feed yourself". I joked.

"I will, although you would probably do well to look a little more like me." She joked back, laughing.

"And you would do well to look a bit more like me." I pointed out.

And then, we both laughed, and I had to admit to myself that I was very, very glad to see her again.

As we began our trudge to a nearby fast-food restaurant, Kari asked me, "So how as the private school?"

"Awful. So bad, in fact, that Mom isn't making me go back." I was glad about the last part.

"I'm sorry to hear that it was so bad… Hey, but at least you get to go to Odiba High with me next year, right?" Kari asked.

"Yep. How was your year?"

"Fine, I guess... but it wasn't the same without you or the others. How was basketball season?"

"Didn't play."

"Why not?" Kari asked, sounding flabbergasted, "It is still your favorite sport, right?"

"Right, but the other kids were jerks, and I wouldn't have done well, playing for a team I didn't like."

"I'm sorry." Kari said.

"Don't be, it _was_ my choice. I'll just have to train extra hard this year."

"Yeah, by the looks of it, you will."

"Yeah, I know." I said, hanging my head in shame.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." Kari said, "I'll push you to practice if you want… Heck, I'll even show up when you're practicing if you really need me to make you work."

"Sure." I said, unwilling to admit that I really wanted her there because I liked her.

Finally, the fast-food restaurant came into sight.

I ordered two quarter pounders, but Kari only ordered fries.

"You should eat more than that." I said, worried.

"I'll be fine" she insisted.

"If you're sure." I replied.

"I'm sure, C'mon, let's sit down."

I took our food, and we were about to sit down alone when Kari pointed out a girl sitting alone in the corner of the place, working on a laptop.

"Isn't that Yolie?" Kari asked.

The girl was almost certainly Yolie, and of the former Digidestined I'd seen today, she'd fared the best by far.

"Yeah, I think so." I said, not willing to claim to be sure, in case I was wrong.

Kari walked over to the girl, and asked, "Yolie, is that you?"

"Yep. Kari?" Yolie asked, smiling widely when she saw her friend again.

"Yep."

"My god, you need to take better care of yourself." Yolie replied, laughing, "Do I have to force feed you?"

"No, I think T.K's already got that covered." Kari replied laughing, and motioned for me to come over there.

"Hey, T.K." Yolie said, "You don't get out much anymore, do you."

"Not really." I admitted, "Is it that obvious?"

"Yeah. You're hardly 'chubby', but I wouldn't call you 'fit' anymore, either… Come on, sit down, sit down!" Yolie said, clearly excited to see us again.

We did, Kari sat down first, right beside Yolie, and then I sat down across from Kari.

"So, how was the computer school?" Kari asked, referring to the boarding school Ken and Yolie had both attended for the last year. Said boarding school had put an emphasis on computer programming and hardware design, earning it the nickname 'the computer school' among the Digidestined.

"It was fun! Ken and I will be going back next year." Yolie replied. "How was the year for the two of you?"

"Well, mine was awful." I replied, "I don't have to go back to the private school, at least."

"My year was alright." Kari said, "But I was a little lonely… How are things between you and Ken?"

"Well, we aren't dating yet, per say." Yolie replied, "But, he did ask me to the last dance of the school year. And you?"

"Not here." Kari replied, and then glanced at me as if I was the reason they couldn't talk about whatever they were going to talk about.

"I'll take that as a 'not yet'."

"Seriously, Yolie." Kari replied.

"Fine. Speaking of Ken," She began, although I was fairly sure they'd stopped talking about Ken a while ago, "Do either of you know where he is?"

We both shook our heads.

"Ah, well. I'll just have to call him. I have to go, alright? CALL ME." She said, sternly to Kari.

"Alright, see you; it was good to see you again." Kari said.

As Yolie left, I asked Kari, "What was that about?"

"What?" Kari replied.

"You know, 'and you?', 'not here', 'I'll take that as a 'not yet'', 'Seriously, Yolie', 'fine'"

"Nothing, T.K."

"Alright."

We didn't really talk about much for the rest of the time we ate. Kari was clearly worried about something, and I was too busy trying to figure out if that could mean anything other than Kari liking me. When we finished eating, I said,

"Alright, I have to go. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Alright." Kari replied, looking deeply unfulfilled, somehow, "Good bye then."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

A/N: Review, PLS?

Kari's POV

* * *

When I finally got home, I was about ready to kill Yolie. I mean, I knew she knew that I liked him, and I KNEW she knew me well enough to understand that I didn't want to talk about my feelings for T.K in front of him.

Even so, I saw no real reason she'd decide to be cause me trouble. I mean, it wasn't as if she was jealous. As far as I knew, Yolie hadn't even thought about boys other than Ken like that, and she was absolutely obsessed with Ken, so I saw no reason she would go after the boy that _I_ was obsessed with.

Nor did she have any reason to be vindictive towards me right now. I hadn't called her in far too long, but she hadn't called me either, so it was unlikely that she was THAT upset, and even if she was, she wouldn't have retaliated over that, it wasn't something that made sense to retaliated over. I mean, if she WANTED my friendship, she wouldn't retaliate over what might have appeared to be me ignoring her, it just wouldn't make sense.

Besides, it wasn't her kind of retaliation. It would have been too complicated to be something she'd done on an impulse, and it wasn't harmful, so she clearly hadn't planned it. After all, if Yolie was carefully planning something, it wouldn't end up EMBARRASSING for the person she was retaliating against, it would end up HURTFUL. On top of that, they would KNOW they had been retaliated against. After all, there's no point in hitting someone to hurt them unless they know who's hitting them, and why.

So I was confused. After all, it couldn't have been accidental, but it couldn't have been spiteful, either. Realizing that I wasn't going to get anywhere by trying to guess what was going on, I resolved to call Yolie, but also decided to wait until I was calmer to do so; her friendship was important to me. To be honest, I also didn't particularly want to hurt her feelings, especially if no harm was meant towards me.

But I really didn't have anything to do while I waited to calm down, and if I kept thinking about it, I'd never be calm.

"Nothing to do." I muttered, and then laughed. That was supposed to be the whole beauty of summer, right? Nothing to do. Emphasis on supposed to be, though. Because this year, I had to get a summer job. Which I had no idea how to go about doing.

Really, I had no plans of figuring it out today, but thinking about it had allowed me to direct my anger elsewhere. This meant that I could now hold a relatively calm, logical conversation, which was the point of the whole exercise.

Having achieved a level of self control, if not of calm, I proceeded to pick up my cellphone, and dialed Yolie's number. After a few rings, she picked up.

"What's up, Kari?" She asked, warmly.

I had an urge to ask 'Well, what the hell do you think is up.' But I had already resolved to be nice, and that would have been decidedly un-nice, so I settled for moderately confrontational, and asked, "Why did you fell the need to talk about my love life in front of my crush?"

"Kari, you like him, but apparently, you don't have the guts to indicate as much to him, but what you can't see, and I can, is that he likes you back. Considering that I knew better than to outright TELL him how you felt, as well as knowing you well enough to know that you wouldn't believe me if I told you how he felt towards you, I decided to 'let slip' that you had some kind of feelings for him." She answered.

I frowned, not entirely sure how to respond to that.

"Yolie.... Don't try to help me with my love life again, alright? Believe it or not, I can handle it myself."

"Whatever. You'll thank me soon enough." She replied, laughing.

"I'm not so sure. What if someone had told Ken how you felt for him before you'd gone off to school?"

"He already knew."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"He. Already. Knew_._"She said, spacing each word apart for more impact, as well as to show her vague annoyance at my disbelief.

"Then why did he _just_ ask you to the dance?" I asked, and then instantly realized that I'd actually asked two questions there: Why he'd ONLY asked her to the dance, and why he'd done so as recently as he had. I'd meant to ask the second, but the first conveyed the same idea, so it didn't really matter.

"He felt I was too good for him, or some such nonsense." She replied.

"Oh. I'm sorry I assumed that you hadn't told him." I apologized, feeling like a complete jerk.

"No problem. I would have assumed the same, in fact, I did."

"Good point. Thanks for trying to help, at least."

"No problem." She said, and then we both laughed.

* * *

T.K's POV:

* * *

Part of me was trying desperately to explain away what I'd heard as some kind of misunderstanding. Well, actually, it already had. Yolie had wanted to talk to Kari about some crush that Kari might have on someone who WASN'T me, and Kari had realized how I felt about her, and Kari had tried to avoid hurting my feelings.

That again, didn't make much sense either. After all, it wasn't as if Kari had carefully hid that she didn't feel for Davis, although Davis tried his best to ignore such signals. Was it possible that I was ignoring similar signals?

The only way to really know how Kari felt about me was to tell her how felt, but I really didn't have the courage to do so, or at least, I didn't have the courage at the moment. But, for the next fifteen or so, which is when Matt was supposed to arrive home from college, I had nothing to do. Bored, I began fidgeting with my cellphone.

When I looked back at my phone, I had accidentally end up on the Contacts page, with the third name down being Kari's. In that moment, I seized the courage to finally tell Kari that I liked her. I went down the two names I needed to, and pressed call.

And I got the busy signal. For a moment, I wanted to throw my phone across the room. But, with amazing force will, I set down the phone. Throwing it wouldn't change anything, except perhaps whether or not my phone worked. And I rather liked that my phone was currently working, and was none to apt to make it stop working.

That said, I was still angry that I'd gotten the busy signal. I might have had the courage before, but t was gone now, leaving only disappointment in it's wake. Then again, it might well be better that way. I probably should tell her this in person.

Still, what were the odds? I mean, sure, I knew she was going Yolie soon, but why now? Besides, it was supposed to be later, not right now.

"Just my luck." I muttered, putting my phone back in my pocket, sitting down to wait out the twelve remaining minutes until Matt finally got home. Those were twelve LONG minutes. Because I was thinking about Kari. And normally, that would have made hours pass fast. But, right now, I was just longing. Feeling lonely.

Because I missed her already. Because, the short while I'd spent with her today had been the best period of time I'd experienced in the last year. I'd thought myself in love with her when I left, but now I knew that I'd had no idea. I wasn't sure if this was love, but it was stronger than what I'd felt before.

Maybe it was only because life had sucked so much for the last year, but I doubted it. Sure, it'd been bad. But I didn't believe that would make me appreciate her that much more. After ten minutes or so of such obsession and daydreaming, Matt finally knocked on the door.

I opened the door, and Matt greeted me with a hug.

"How this year?" I asked, smiling.

"Good." He said, and then looked at me, like 'what** happened **to _you_?'

"Bad year." I explained.

"For having a bad year, you look awfully cheerful." He said, clearly curious.

"Yeah, got to see Kari, Davis, and Yolie again." I explained again.

"Today?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm glad. Mom says you're going back to public school next year?"

"Yeah." I said, letting my excitement show through.

"I'm glad." He replied, "That school wasn't a good fit for you, was it?"

"No." I replied, and then my phone rang.

I checked the caller ID.

_Kari_, it read.


End file.
